Attacked by dogs. Seduced by strangers. Savaged by ponytails.

Each afternoon, a jogger sets off for six laps of his local park, but these daily outings soon turn into infuriating encounters with the running world’s most bizarre, exasperating and beguiling people.

The action begins with an encounter that would test the patience of a jogging saint: a face-to-face meeting with the taunting jiggles of the Savage Ponytail.

The encounters soon become stranger–and funnier. Our jogging hero finds himself in an exhausting duel with a runner who refuses to be overtaken; and facing off against a dog walker who is convinced that her snarling, sock-biting pet is actually a harmless pooch. (Spoiler: it’s definitely not).

Finally, there is a face-off with the running world’s most seductive and dangerous character: the Dream Lover, a beautiful jogging stranger who smiles suggestively when passing by, and might or might not be the love of your life.

The Savage Ponytail is a running book with a difference. Based on author Malcolm Costain’s innumerable runs in parks and tracks around the world, it offers short, fast-paced stories of dry humour that will not only cause a laugh but offer reassurance that you aren’t the only runner who loves this sport but sometimes finds your fellow athletes strange, if not exasperating